Cognitive Neurologist
Dr. Benjamin J. Williams is a renowned neurologist, Alzheimer's researcher with 20+ years in clinical trials, and Adjunct Professor at Atrium Wake Forest with a deep-rooted history in Memory Disorders Clinics
MD, FAAN
Cognitive Neurologist
Dr. Benjamin J. Williams is a renowned neurologist, Alzheimer's researcher with 20+ years in clinical trials, and Adjunct Professor at Atrium Wake Forest with a deep-rooted history in Memory Disorders Clinics
Request AppointmentUniversity of California San Diego School of Medicine
Medical School - University of California San Diego School of Medicine
Graduate - The University of Texas at Austin
Undergraduate - The University of Texas at Austin
Benjamin J. Williams, MD, PhD is a graduate of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas. He attended the University of Texas at Austin for his undergraduate studies, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with high honors. He received a PhD in Zoology from the University of Texas at Austin. After medical school, Dr. Williams completed a neurology residency at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.
Dr. Williams practiced general neurology and sleep medicine for many years at several practice locations in California, North Carolina, and Texas. He joined the neurology faculty at the Texas Tech School of Medicine and subsequently had neurology faculty appointments at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, TX and at Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, NC. At these institutions Dr. Williams’ clinical efforts were primarily in the outpatient Memory Disorders Clinics.
Dr. Williams has been involved in clinical trial work for over 20 years. Most of this work has been in the field of therapeutic trials for Alzheimer disease, and he remains currently active in Alzheimer disease research in his current position as an Adjunct Professor at Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health. His research has included the use of monoclonal antibody therapies such as lecanemab, which is now FDA approved, in the treatment of Alzheimer disease. Dr. Williams is still an active member of the Wake Forest Alzheimer Disease Research Center, which has ongoing grant funding from the National Institutes of Aging.
Williams BJ, Larimer JL & Gordan WH (1977). Production of localized lesions in the nervous system using silver nitrate. Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 57: 37-40.
Garlick RL, Williams BJ & Riggs AF (1979). The hemoglobins of Phoronopsis viridis, of the primitive invertebrate phylum Phoronida: characterization and subunit structure. Arch. Biochem.Biophys., 194: 13-23.
Williams BJ & Larimer JL (1980). Abdominal extension-evoking interneurons in crayfish: characteristics of the ganglionic driving networks. J. Exp. Zool., 214: 189-197.
Williams BJ & Larimer JL (1981). Neural pathways of reflex-evoked behaviors and command systems in the abdomen of the crayfish. J. Comp. Physiol., 143:27-42.
Williams BJ, Droge MH, Hester K & Leonard RB (1981). Induction of swimming in the high spinal stingray by L-DOPA. Brain Res, 220:208-13.
Williams BJ, Livingston CA & Leonard RB. (1984). Spinal cord pathways involved in initiation of swimming in the stingray, Dasyatis sabina: spinal cord stimulation and lesions. J. Neurophysiol, 51:578-91.
Ritchie TC, Roos LJ, Williams BJ, & Leonard RB (1984). The descending and intrinsic serotonergic innervation of an elasmobranch spinal cord. J. Comp. Neurol, 224:395-406.
Williams BJ, Droge ME & Leonard RB (1988). Intracellular recording from pectoral fin motorneurons in the stingray, Dasyatis sabina, an elasmobranch fish. J. Neurophysiol, 51:666-79.
Clark WM, Williams B, Selzer KA, Zweifler RM, Sabounjian Gammans RE (1999). A randomized efficacy trial of citicoline in acute ischemic stroke. Stroke, 30:2592-97.
Warren MW, Hynan LS, Weiner MF, Doody R, Roundtree S, Capriles V, O’Bryant SE, Williams BJ, et al (2012). Lipids and adipokines as risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 29, 1, 151-157.
O’Bryant SE, Johnson LA, Balldin V, Edwards M, Barber RC, Williams BJ, Devous M, Cushings B, Knebl J, & Hall J (2012). Characterization of Mexican Americans with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 33(2), 373-9. PMID: 22976076
Szerlip, HM, Edwards ML, Williams BJ, Johnson LA, Vintimilla RM & O’Bryant SE. (2015). Association of cognitive impairment with chronic kidney disease in Mexican Americans. Journal of the American Geriatric Society 63(10), 2023-2028.
Edwards M, Hall J, Williams B, Johnson L & O'Bryant SE (2016). Molecular markers of amnestic mild cognitive impairment among Mexican Americans. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease 49, 221-228.
Lockhart SN, Schaich CL, Craft S, Sachs B, Rapp SR, Jung Y, Whitlow C, Sai KKS, Cleveland MJ, Williams BJ, Burke G, Bertoni A, Hayden KM, Hughes TM. Associations among vascular risk factors, neuroimaging biomarkers, and cognition: Preliminary analyses from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, 05 September 2021
Tugce Duran, James R Bateman, MD, MPH; Benjamin J Williams, MD, PhD; Mark A Espeland, PhD; Timothy M Hughes, PhD; Stephanie Okonmah-Obazee, MS; Melissa M Rundle, PhD; Suzanne Craft, PhD; Samuel N Lockhart (December 2021). Neuroimaging and clinical characteristics of cognitive migration in community-dwelling older adults. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Vol 17, Issue S1, e056241
Samuel N. Lockhart, Tim M. Hughes, Cynthia Suerken, Youngkyoo Jung, Christopher T. Whitlow, James R. Bateman, Benjamin J. Williams, Mark A. Espeland, Bonnie C. Sachs, Kathleen M. Hayden, Laura D. Baker, Suzanne Craft (December 2021). Cardiometabolic disorders are associated with reduced cerebral perfusion and white matter microstructure. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Vol 17, Issue S1, e055791
Claudia Coffin, Cynthia K. Suerken, James R. Bateman, Christopher T. Whitlow, Benjamin J. Williams, Mark A. Espeland, Bonnie C. Sachs, Maryjo Cleveland, Mia Yang, Samantha Rogers, Kathleen M. Hayden, Laura D. Baker, Jeff Williamson, Suzanne Craft, Timothy M. Hughes, Samuel N. Lockhart. (July 2022). Vascular and microstructural markers of cognitive pathology. Alzheimer’s Dement.2022;14:e12332
2018-2023: Atrium Wake Forest Baptist Health, active staff
2012-2017: Parkland Memorial Hospital, active staff
2012-2017: UT Southwestern Medical Center University Hospitals, associate staff
2004-2012: University Medical Center, Lubbock, TX, full staff
1997-2008: Covenant Health System, Lubbock, TX, full staff
1994-1997: Forsyth Memorial Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC, full staff
1994: Craven Regional Medical Center, New Bern, NC, full staff
1991-1993: French Hospital Medical Center, San Luis Obispo, CA, full staff
1991-1993: Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center, San Luis Obispo, CA, full staff
